Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first rays of sunshine woke Mydei up, filtered through the thin curtains. He rubs his eyes, preparing for the day ahead.

Getting up wasn’t exactly easy, he almost falls down on his face as he tries to put his slippers on. Then, he heads for the kitchen of his apartment, yawning.

In short, Mydei is an extremely average person.

Average job at a bakery, average hobbies, average life…

He finishes his early smoothie and heads towards the living room, as he always does in his average life. That was until he realizes… his mornings wouldn’t be as average as before now.

Oh, right. There’s a literal god sleeping on his couch.

—

Amphoreus was a pretty futuristic city, compared to the rest of the world. It was trendy, it was beautiful. Really, the place people wanted to go to.

Part of Amphoreus’ success came from its gods, also called Titans. There were twelve of them, each representing a different concept. Strife, Death, Romance, Reason… and on top of them was the Titan of Worldbearing.

Each Titan had a dedicated temple. They were great tourist attractions and kept the economy booming. People went to pray for whatever they wanted to happen, and the Titans could choose to answer or not. Each year, a Titan popularity contest was held (it sounded absurd, but it happened). Usually, the results didn’t change much. Mnestia the Romance was first. Zagreus the Trickery was at the bottom of the leaderboard… pretty normal, unless you looked at the last place of each year.

Kephale the Worldbearer.

Kephale’s temple was easily accessible. It was close to the city, was the most decorated temple of all and arguably the most important of all Amphoreus. The problem related to Kephale directly. The Titan was… asleep. Dead. There were many theories. All that was known was that Kephale laid at the bottom of his temple, in its deepest chamber, protected by a magical barrier impossible to cross for humans and Titans both.

And so, Kephale couldn’t grant wishes.

Nobody knew why he was absent. The rest of the Titans were silent about it. At first, people found it interesting. An invisible force that could awake at any moment? Amazing.

That was until people started to completely abandon Kephale’s temple. Some people still went, it was a wonder of architecture after all. But to the eyes of Amphoreus, Kephale was a dead Titan and was completely useless. People preferred Titans who could offer them what they wanted.

As for Mydei, he didn’t truly have a favorite Titan. The only one he visited the temple of was Kephale, because it was usually very quiet and peaceful.

Nobody visited anyways.

One day, he made a mistake.

During one of his audiences with Kephale, he stepped in the usual room divided in two. The barrier protecting the center of the Temple didn’t allow anyone to walk further into it. He was about to present his offerings to the Titan and leave them near the barrier when he realized that his finger was going through that barrier.

It took him a moment to realize what was happening. So logically, he tried to pass his arm through it. And somehow, it worked?

He hadn’t heard anything online about the barrier breaking. Was he the only one capable of traversing it? Mydei didn’t think twice before jumping through.

He reached the dark corridor, unexplored before and continued his investigation. A long stairway was leading to a small room. But most surprising was what was inside the room.

A man, taller than any, wrapped in his own wings, was standing at the center of the hidden chamber. A powerful light was emanating from him.

And he was definitely alive.

Mydei almost forgot how to breathe.

Then, the man moved, his wings slowly unwrapping and revealing his yellow eyes.

“Mydeimos…” The Titan – Kephale – whispered. “It’s really you…?”

And so, Mydei met his new big clingy puppy.

—

Turns out, Kephale followed him home.

For some reason.

Mydei hadn’t expected that. He didn’t even clean his apartment. But Kephale didn’t mind, instead, he sat his imposing figure on the couch and gladly accepted any food Mydei gave him.

He even said he would sleep on the couch. Mydei offered him the bed, but he refused, arguing he wouldn’t care and wouldn’t need to sleep much anyways.

…he was asleep for centuries after all.

So, Mydei got to keep his bed.

The morning after, he stands at the entrance of the living room, half awake.

Right. God is sleeping on his couch. Or maybe he’s wide awake, Mydei can’t tell. He approaches the sleeping man and yelps in surprise when he feels himself being pulled in Kephale’s embrace. It doesn’t take long for him to be wrapped in two big and warm wings.

“Stay… please.” The god pleads – wait, pleads?? – and nudges Mydei closer to him. His body is incredibly warm. It’s comfortable.

“Sure but I have to go to work soon…”

Saying that to a god might sound strange, because he should technically do anything they want. But said god was literally crashing on his couch for whatever unholy reason, and logic flew out the window yesterday. And Mydei had a house to pay for.

“Hm.” Kephale lets out a groan to protest, but slowly opens his wings, allowing Mydei to slip out. “Can I come?”

Mydei almost chokes.

And finds a complete stranger sitting on his couch the moment he blinks. The stranger has short white hair and beautiful blue eyes. Have they met before? Mydei doesn’t remember him, but he certainly has a strange feeling of déjà vu.

Unfortunately, he has to stop his thoughts when he realizes that Kephale of all people was wearing a yellow shirt with disgusting purple pants.

To the closet you go, Titan, Mydei isn’t allowing you to leave until you dress better.

After finding a presentable outfit that suits the man, Mydei finally allows him to accompany him at work.

He doesn’t know why Kephale would want to see that, but sure.

He also gave Mydei a name. Phainon. Said Mydei should call him that and not Kephale.

Phainon isn’t a name that has ever been associated with Kephale in any story or legend.

Mydei agrees and brushes it off completely. The Titan must like the name.

He finds focusing at work even more complicated now that he’s aware that one of the twelve Titans is watching. Phainon likes to observe Mydei baking. He was assigned some menial tasks that he fails horrendously. Mydei wasn’t aware being this bad at cooking was a thing at all. He sets a reminder in his head to never give Phainon the occasion to cook again.

He learns that Phainon likes Golden Honeycakes, which, luckily, are Mydei’s specialty. He offers the Titan some, hoping it would keep him busy enough to not bother anyone.

When his shift is over, Mydei promises Phainon they can go to the park tomorrow. Phainon happily agrees. As happily as he can be, considering he doesn’t really expresses anything.

This night, Mydei has a nightmare.

He sees himself being torn apart many, many times and always coming back to life after. He sees the face of a man he can’t recognize, deformed by fear, as he falls to the ground and dies one final time.

When he wakes up, Phainon has him wrapped in his wings, whispering sweet words of reassurance.

Mydei says nothing and falls back asleep, this time devoid of any dreams.

—

The morning, Mydei opens his eyes and immediately sees Phainon’s face. He yelps and almost falls off the bed. Phainon’s wings stop him from doing so. He’s very quick to react, Mydei notices.

He picks up Phainon’s half asleep body and drags him to the bathroom. Or tries to. Phainon wakes up halfway through and quickly reverses the roles.

Mydei doesn’t even fight.

After a quick morning routine, Mydei ends up in the kitchen, a very hungry and excited puppy waiting for his breakfast sitting behind him. He manages to make a fruit salad. Phainon seems to like it, at least. He also makes him a smoothie.

And finally, after picking out Phainon’s outfit (Mydei doesn’t trust him doing so alone), they set off to the park.

Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be a time limit to Phainon’s human form.

They set up their spot under a tree. Mydei takes out the few snacks he brought and lays them on the grass. Phainon watches the surroundings while he does. Then, once Mydei is done, Phainon rests his head on the other man’s shoulder. Mydei can’t say he’s not surprised. He doesn’t know what to do, so he pets Phainon’s hair.

He still has a lot of questions. This time, curiosity gets the better of him. Do Titans have drama between them?

“So… how are they like?” Mydei starts.

“Hm?” Phainon hums, confused.

“The other Titans.”

“Ah.” He pauses. “Cerces and Mnestia hate each other.” He notes, almost giggling. “Thanatos… is extremely soft and gentle. She wouldn’t hurt a soul.”

So Titans have genders. Mydei was always taught they didn’t.

“Zagreus is a little weird, but she wants the best for everyone. Janus… I don’t really know her. Aquila is one of the kindest person I’ve ever met. And…”

Phainon doesn’t dare to speak for a while, as if he was remembering something painful. Mydei was about to speak up, but…

“And Nikador.” Phainon breathes out. “Nikador.” He repeats. “…is not a complete Titan.”

“And that means?”

“Nikador is missing half of himself. It’s what it means.” Phainon admits. “You… shouldn’t know more.”

“Alright.”

Mydei doesn’t insist. He can see Phainon doesn’t want to talk about it. So he lets him lay down on his lap. His dog- Phainon happily obliges. With a small smile and a small pink hue on his cheeks (which Mydei did not know was possible for Phainon), he rests his head on the other man’s thighs, closing his eyes.

As for what Phainon had just told Mydei… legends depicted Mnestia and Cerces as lovers. Maybe they were just an old married couple. Same legends talked of Thanatos as a cold Titan that didn’t care about giving death to people. Zagreus was depicted as a trickster who had no limits, even playing with the lives of people. Aquila was supposed to be very protective of their sky.

Knowing them from an other Titan’s perspective was incredibly interesting. As for Nikador… no sources ever mentioned them being “incomplete”. They were always a mad Titan who wasn’t very popular. Though the stories did mention Kephale having to seal them to stop them from succumbing to madness. Maybe that’s why Phainon doesn’t like talking about it, Mydei figures. He won’t ask about it anyways.

About half an hour of scrolling on different social medias, Mydei finally sees Phainon waking up. He drops a candy in the Titan’s hand, watching his eyes light up.

The rest of the afternoon is spent playing games and chatting about nothing and everything at the same time. Mydei almost feels sad when he realizes they need to go back home. Phainon helps him clean their spot.

The feeling goes away when Phainon lays down with him when they go to sleep.

—

At some point, Mydei gets used to having the Titan of Worldbearing living in his home.

Phainon sleeps with him in his bed. He’s warm and keeps the nightmares away. Mydei became used to them.

When he has work, Phainon clings to him all day. When he doesn’t have work, Phainon clings to him all day. He doesn’t mind being compared to a puppy, he finds them cute. Mydei taught him a lot of things about the current Amphoreus. Phainon always listens attentively. Mydei figures he just likes his voice.

A few days after Phainon first slept on Mydei’s couch, Kephale was declared missing. The barrier had disappeared, apparently, and the temple was completely empty.

It was ridiculous. It took them days to notice a Titan’s very obvious disappearance.

Phainon doesn’t care. He uses his human appearance when going out and uses his real one when at home with Mydei. He doesn’t plan on going back any time soon and made it very clear. He would rather be with Mydei, for some reason. And that’s fine with the man, his life before Phainon joined in was incredibly dull.

He might actually start to enjoy Phainon’s clinginess.

—

Mydei takes Phainon to the newly opened festival.

It’s not anything grand. There isn’t a lot of things to do. But Phainon said he wanted to go a few days ago, so Mydei brought him.

The festival was held for Kephale.

Mydei finds it a little funny. It was supposed to be a funeral for the “late” Kephale. Everyone thought he was dead, since he just disappeared without giving news.

They put on their decorated masks to match with the rest of the crowd. The main celebration was going to be a ritual to bid farewell to warriors. Kremnoan tradition, no less. The participants would burn a figure supposed to represent the deceased – here, Kephale – to give them one final goodbye.

For now though, the festival goers could enjoy a few games and tasty snacks. In short, a normal festival until the final event.

Phainon drags Mydei to nearly every game. His bank would sure question the suspicious spendings the next morning.

But Phainon was having fun. He was smiling. Mydei could see how much he changed from the first time they met. Phainon was near emotionless, but now… now is different. It was pleasant. Mydei almost forgot that Phainon was the Worldbearing Titan. He doesn’t mind. Maybe Phainon thinks he does. But really, who could care about details like these after seeing this beautiful smile?

Phainon’s favorite game ended up being Battleships. He really likes competing with Mydei. Awfully in character, Kephale was said to challenge Nikador in battles all the time.

Mydei finds it adorable. Phainon is really cute when he focuses on something.

A few hours of fun after, it was time for the ending ceremony.

Phainon picks up a torch, lighting the wooden statue on fire once it was his turn. Mydei refused to go. Phainon is alright with that. He doesn’t want Mydei to feel uncomfortable by celebrating the death of his friend. Once Phainon returns, they walk to an unoccupied part of the hill.

Phainon, as always, lays down on Mydei’s lap.

“Thank you for today. I had fun.”

“A Titan having fun at his funeral?” Mydei teases. “You truly are one of a kind, Phainon.”

“But you like it.”

…fair, Mydei admits.

Phainon opens his eyes.

“When I became a Titan…” he starts, his blue eyes betraying him. He was feeling sad. “I lost all my emotions. But when I found you, it all gradually came back. That’s why I’m happy.”

Mydei doesn’t know what to answer, so he pets Phainon’s hair.

“Mydeimos…” Phainon whispers. “I really… really love you.”

Mydei stops for a moment, then goes in for a kiss.

—

“Phainon…” Mydei sighs, exasperated. “Can you let go?”

He tries to push away the massive wings keeping him from moving.

“Hmph.” Phainon huffs, closing in even more.

Mydei groans. “I know you love me.”

“I do.”

“But you have to let me go. I need to work.”

“Nuh uh.”

Mydei gives up. Phainon smiles, as if claiming victory. He seems very alive for someone who just had their funeral yesterday.

“I really love you, Mydei.”

“I love you too. But please let me go. You’re strangling me.”

Chapter Text

“Ah…”

Phainon plunges a hand in his chest. Golden blood fuses out. He yells out in pain. It isn’t just his chest. His entire body hurts. He digs deeper. An other yell escapes his throat.

Nobody can hear you.

The Deliverer doesn’t have to hide his pain.

Don’t stop.

Phainon screams out in pain as his fingers slowly reach for their target.

A second later, he rips his heart out of his chest. Blood flies everywhere, staining his clothing, his face.

He can’t stop yelling. The pain is unbearable. But he doesn’t stop there. Instead, he grabs his heart firmly and squishes it until there’s nothing left.

This was the Miracle of Genesis and the beginning of Era Nova.

He doesn’t know how much time passes. He wakes up disoriented, confused. He should’ve felt pain. Fear. Horror.

Except he felt none of that. Instead, there is this un-feeling of nothing. He tries to search for something. But nothing comes back.

His arms drop by his side. He takes a second to observe himself. Then he brings his knees closer to his chest and lets his wings cover him up.

The wings he never had.

And he waits. He doesn’t know exactly how much time. It feels like eternity.

When he wakes up, he can feel something rising. Not from him, but below.

You have a new world to build.

He guides the eleven souls up. One shyly flies towards him. His eyes widen.

“Mydeimos…?”

He gently cups the soul in his hands, trembling. He doesn’t close them, no. The soul seems frail and fragile. He doesn’t want to damage it.

A thought crosses his mind. And without reflexion, he grabs the soul.

“Please…” he begs. “Please forgive me, Mydeimos.”

He starts digging his sharp fingers through the soul. It screeches in pain. He cries. At some point, it breaks. Divides into two.

He lets go of one half. It starts flying slowly upwards. Weakly. Almost falling sometimes.

He keeps the other half close to his chest. He hugs it, desperate to not let it go. Crying. Begging for forgiveness. The half-soul shrivels in pain.

Then, he looks up at the rest of the souls. He thinks. Then starts giving them form.

A bird. A tree. A gate. A lance.

He lets them take life. And slowly, before him, a new world forms.

Then come the millions and millions of souls of the people. He looks down at the fragment he holds. Still quivering. He sighs and slowly lets go. It flies away like its twin, frail. Hesitant, but determined.

Phainon…

He gets up and steps into the new world.

Phainon.

And then he waits.

“Phainon!”

A scream wakes him up from his nightmare. Always the same nightmare.

His human… Mydei, is standing above him, shaking him violently. He looks worried. Phainon blinks.

“Mydei…”

“…” Mydei sighs. “You were crying.”

“I was.”

Phainon brings a finger to his eyes. He looks at it. It’s wet.

“Ah.”

“Are you okay?” Mydei asks.

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

“…alright. If you say so.”

Mydei returns to his previous occupation. Cooking, Phainon notes. He gets up and approaches. Once he’s close enough, he wraps Mydei in his wings like usual, his arms sliding on his sides.

“Phainon.” Mydei groans.

“…”

“Please put your wings away.”

“Why?” Phainon hums.

“I can’t see shit and I’m cooking.”

Phainon unwraps his wings, pouting. He lets his head fall on Mydei’s shoulder, burying himself in the crook of his neck. It’s always something he does when he wakes up from this nightmare. In his head, he imagines this is still the Okhema of before. When Mydei and him were accomplishing the Flame-Chase together. He wasn’t as clingy, of course. He didn’t dare angering the Kremnoan prince. But now, he can be whatever he wants, Mydei doesn’t mind. So he clings to him all day.

He’d noticed his feelings slowly coming back over the past few weeks. And it’s all thanks to Mydei. He doesn’t know why. Maybe love really is that powerful. He’s supposed to be devoid of a heart and emotions, yet he can still feel things. Every time he clings to Mydei, he can feel warmth. Every time they talk, he can feel happiness. Every time they sleep in the same bed, he can feel peace. Peace he never found after the Miracle of Genesis. Peace he now finds every night.

It’s nice. He hopes it stays that way forever.

He grips Mydei’s sides a little harder. The man groans in pain. Phainon apologizes.  A painful reminder that his divine form had non-human nails.

Humans don’t live forever. Mydei won’t live forever. Phainon doesn’t want to think about it, so he decides to take a bit of Mydei’s hair in his mouth. Anything to distract him.

“What are you doing now?” The man glares at him.

“Mhm.” Phainon answers. “Mhhhmm mh.”

“Yeah I totally understood that.” Mydei huffed. “Go sit at the table. I’m going to serve you.”

Phainon doesn’t need to be told twice. Ever since he found Mydei, his tastebuds seemingly awakened from their slumber. He had tried to eat food that the humans offered him before but… it tasted like nothing. He couldn’t feel the sweet, the salty and bitter he had once felt.

He was surprised to finally get the chance to taste again when Mydei served him his first meal. He didn’t show his amazement (and he still doesn’t to this day, to not make Mydei worry over nothing, because he would worry if he learnt Phainon couldn’t taste a thing), but made sure to compliment his cooking.

For once, it wasn’t made bad on purpose. Phainon thought he would never get to taste Mydei’s good cooking again.

Fortunately, he was wrong. Kephale may be the head of all the other Titans, and the one who created this world, but he could still be wrong after all.

Phainon shakes his head. He doesn’t want to be Kephale. He’s Phainon, the Deliverer who brought dawn to Amphoreus. And Mydei is… could he be considered his wife at this point? He always takes care of everything for Phainon, whether that be food, cleaning, distractions…

Maybe he can ask Aglaea?

“Mydei!” He calls out.

“Yes?” The man looks up from his meal.

“Can we go to Agl- Mnestia’s temple?”

Mydei raises a brow. Phainon prays he agrees.

“Sure.” He nods, going back to his meal.

A small victory for Phainon.

—

The following day, they are off to Mnestia’s temple. Unfortunately, being the most popular Titan, they have to book a specific time to go. And the wait list was so long it would take them an entire week of waiting to get the chance to meet Mnestia.

Phainon pouts. Mydei pats his head. He hadn’t expected having to wait to meet his friend. But now he is a human, so he has to abide by the rules. He can’t blame Aglaea for her success, she is the most amazing person he’d met (after Mydei, of course).

So instead of going to see Mnestia, they go off to Kephale’s temple.

Phainon insists to go. Mydei sighs and agrees, to the condition that Phainon doesn’t do anything “stupid”.

It takes them two hours of train to get to the abandoned temple. It was completely devoid of any life, except maybe for the many flowers set at the entrance. Not surprising, everyone thinks he’s dead. Phainon crouches and admired the flowers. A gust of wind blows a petal off one of the flowers. Phainon picks it up and proudly shows it to Mydei.

He only gets a confused look.

Phainon puts the petal in one of his pockets, then steps in.

They happen to meet a group of people at one point. Mydei greets them, but keeps Phainon close to him.

Is he… scared Phainon’s identity is going to be revealed? That’s cute, Phainon thinks. He has way more control over his appearance than Mydei could ever imagine.

He doesn’t mind being close to Mydei. In fact, he makes sure to get even closer to him. He can hear Mydei’s breath stopping for a second. So Phainon being Phainon, he leaves a kiss on Mydei’s cheek.

That was enough to make Mydei so flustered he pushes Phainon deeper in the temple. Phainon laughs.

Finally, they arrived at the place where there was previously a barrier. Phainon remembers setting it up millennials ago, to make sure he would be disturbed in his sleep only by Mydei. And it worked. When he shared his plan with Aglaea, she sighed and declared it was a bad idea. Anaxa (who would hit him on the head and rudely remind him it’s Anaxagoras) had just shaken his head in disbelief and went back to his occupations. Why were they always together when Phainon went to visit? He still had no clue.

He doubts Mydei could answer. He doesn’t have any memories of their past life, and he’s not exactly the best at feelings. Phainon getting him to declare his love back at the festival was already something that would be worth talking about for centuries.

Maybe splitting his soul was a good idea after all.

Phainon slams his head against a wall, taking Mydei by surprise. He hears him mutter a “what the hell”.

No. You can’t think like that.

Phainon still remembers soul Mydei’s screams of pain as he tore it apart slowly. He slams his head against the wall a second time. It’s not fair to Mydei. What he did was extremely selfish. He hurt Nikador. He hurt Mydei. It was his fault Nikador had gone mad. Without the second half of his soul, there was nothing he could do against madness. Phainon doesn’t want to think about the moment he had to seal him away.

He feels something on his shoulder. Mydei’s hand. He turns and gets welcomed by a warm hug.

“Are you okay?” Mydei whispers.

“…” Phainon considers his answer. “No. But it’s okay.”

“Do you want to leave?”

“No.”

Phainon is always thankful for everything Mydei does for him. Including the hugs. He really likes those. Makes him forget about whatever bad thing he’s thinking about immediately. He likes that Mydei is so careful when it comes to him. He shouldn’t, but he feels protected.

A human protecting a Titan.

It’s very cute, Phainon thinks.

They venture deeper into the temple. Phainon never thought it would be this big. He didn’t make this place, humans did. And humans made it beautiful. He often catches himself staring at the murals decorating the walls. They represent an idealized version of him that resembles a giant shaping the world. He asks for Mydei’s phone and takes selfies in front of that version of him.

He manages to steal a laugh from Mydei. An other small victory for Phainon. It feels nice hearing his laugh. If only he didn’t hide it all the time in their last life…

Finally, they reach the last chamber. The one where Phainon had been sleeping for who knows how long. He doesn’t remember really looking at it that much. He only remembers closing his eyes and setting the barrier. He’s almost surprised to see some beautiful murals here too.

Mydei looks at him weirdly when he mentions never seeing those, as if saying “you’ve been here for so many years and you’ve never seen them?”.

Phainon decided to use his devious puppy eyes.

And Mydei falls for it.

Phainon earns a few pets. It’s the happiest he’s been in a while.

After some time spent stealing pets from Mydei, he suddenly gets an idea. Phainon releases the energy he kept imprisoned in his own body, and turns back to his Titan form. Mydei almost jumps to the ceiling.

“Phainon what-”

He sits against the wall. “There’s no one here. I checked.”

“Still, this is-”

“Mydei.” Phainon opens his arms. “Come sit with me. Please?”

Mydei sighs. Phainon can feel him overthinking. So what if the head of all of the Titans of this world wants him to sit in the ruins of his temple? Phainon thinks it’s almost romantic.

Without leaving him time to refuse, Phainon grabs Mydei’s arm and drags him on his lap. Mydei yells and end up with his face in Phainon’s neck.

How the turns tabled. Or whatever those humans said, Phainon doesn’t remember exactly what it was.

He, as always, wraps Mydei in his wings, careful not to hurt the human in his embrace. It feels a little silly to think that Mydei is now fragile. But Phainon will protect him, so there’s no need to worry.

Mydei ends up accepting his fate and stops fighting. Phainon holds him closer to his chest. Mydei closes his eyes.

“Your heart beats very slowly.”

A pause.

“What… do you mean…?” Phainon asks, confused.

He doesn’t have a heart.

“I mean that your heart beats slowly. And it’s pleasant.”

Phainon puts a hand on his chest.

And Mydei is right. There is something in him beating. He gasps softly, confused.

“What?” Mydei asks.

“…” Phainon doesn’t want to make him worry for nothing. “Nothing. Don’t worry.”

Mydei shouldn’t know. Phainon promised himself he would give Mydei a good life as a human. Telling him about it means bothering him and stressing him for nothing. It’s not worth it.

Phainon doesn’t know how much time he spends with Mydei. But he knows he has to ask him to get off once he feels someone else stepping in the temple. It felt nice, at least. He seals his powers away and regains his human form, then accompanies Mydei back to the surface. The sun blinds them for a moment.

Then, they go back to the apartment.

—

The week passed way slower than Phainon expected. He stays home half of the week, since Mydei’s boss only allowed him in the bakery for a limited time. Phainon understands. He can only get so many free delicious pastries Mydei makes specifically for him.

And finally, they reach Mnestia’s temple. Mydei proposes to stay outside. Phainon accepts, gladly.

They wait in line for their turn. Phainon’s turn, actually. The temple they step in slowly is millions of times more beautiful than Kephale’s temple. The ceiling is decorated with numerous paintings, the walls are covered in silk and different kinds of fabrics Phainon has never heard of before. Mydei tells him about them. Apparently, he had tried sewing before, but didn’t have much success.

Phainon almost misses his turn. He gets twenty minutes in a closed off room with Mnestia, and depending on what he says, the Titan can accept his invitation or not.

Well, that’s the case for mortals, at least. Phainon knows Aglaea will come when she notices it’s him.

He steps into the giant room and sighs as the doors close. He’s alone now. He takes some time to observe his surroundings. It’s a beautiful room covered in even more fabrics, with offerings scattered around the floor.

Phainon looks up at the altar.

“Agy?” He tries.

Immediately, golden light fills the room. A beautiful golden butterfly appears from the ceiling, flying to the altar. It sits on it, looking at the human below.

“Kephale…” the butterfly whispers. “No, Phainon. It is a pleasure meeting you once again.”

“Mhm.” Phainon nods, approaching the altar. He extends an arm towards the butterfly. He feels its wings touching it gently.

“You have come as a human. Why?”

“Love.” Phainon answers. “I think.”

“Ah… of course, what else.” Aglaea laughs. “Have you finally found your ‘Mydeimos’?”

“I did!” He smiles. “Even if you don’t remember him… it’s okay. I can come back and tell you about him.”

“You have told me plenty enough already.” Aglaea notes. “It was all you did back in the day.”

“Mhm!”

“Phainon. Please, tell me what you have come for.”

And so, Phainon explains his struggles. What he thinks is going on with him. What he thinks Mydei is for him. And during all this time, Aglaea listens carefully, like she always does.

“I have reached my conclusion.” Aglaea says. “You are hopelessly in love with Mydeimos.”

“Really?” Phainon rolls his eyes, hearing the Titan’s laugh. “I didn’t know that.”

“Not only that, but you are the most desperate case I have heard of yet.”

“I suppose that’s not good.”

“It is neither good, nor bad. It is how you are, and you must learn to adapt to it.”

“Thanks, Agy.” Phainon smiles. “So what do I do? I can’t… tell him everything.”

“You may have sensed it already, but Nikador has been restless recently.” Aglaea notes. “I believe you should pay him a visit and then improvise. You know better than I do about your relationship with him. And as you have said before, I have no memories of him. I cannot decide for you if you should tell him or not.”

“Ah.” Phainon pauses. “I. Didn’t sense it. Right. I’ll go do that soon.”

“Very well. The twenty minutes are almost done. Do you wish for more time?”

“No, I’ll be fine. Thanks, Agy.”

He salutes the Titan, who flaps its wings and exits the room.

Nikador… what Aglaea told him could be interpreted as “The seal you trapped him in is going to break soon”. And Phainon doesn’t like it one bit.

Because Nikador is Mydeimos. And having to fight him and seal him again is going to be painful.

Phainon doesn’t think he was ever ready to face him again.

He grabs Mydei’s hand and leads him to the exit.

“Did something happen?”

“No.” Phainon lies. Mydei had told him numerous times he was bad at it. “Tomorrow I’m going somewhere. Please don’t follow me.”

And they went back home.

—

Phainon wakes up at dawn. The sun hasn’t completely risen yet. It’s a good thing, since Mydei’s still sleeping at this time. He quietly slips out of bed, hoping Mydei won’t wake up. He doesn’t. Good.

Phainon turns back into his human form and grabs the keys. He unlocks the door as quietly as he can.

The way to Nikador’s temple is quite long. Phainon debates flying there. It’s too dangerous, and people could see him. So he walks.

And walks.

It’s two hours away.

And he doesn’t have a train pass.

Maybe he could’ve asked Mydei to at least accompany him.

When Phainon arrives at the temple, he finds it empty. There are no souls in here at this time of the day. It’s a workday, and Nikador isn’t the most popular Titan.

He still remembers placing a barrier to protect the seal. This one hasn’t vanished. Good. Phainon crosses it without difficulty and enters a part of the temple nobody else can access.

It’s dark. Dusty. It smells like moisture. Clearly, nobody has been there for a while. Phainon walks past the many murals depicting scenes of fights where Nikador came out victorious. The battle of Styxia, the most famous example of Nikador’s victory, remained the most represented in the temple. He walks past armors, swords, shields, all eroded by time.

Then, Phainon entered a big underground room. Noises of someone struggling could be heard. There was a circular shaped seal, cast on the ground, and a giant was trying to tear its way out.

“Nikador…” he whispers.

The giant hears him. It tries to lunge at him, before the seal blocks his attack. It roars, it’s lance clashing against the seal.

“I’m here. It’s okay.”

Kephale releases his powers. He grabs Dawnbreaker, and points at the seal.

The seal finally breaks.

Nikador lunges at him, his spear still as sharp as the day it was forged. Kephale avoids it and uses their proximity to kick the Titan. It flies off and ends up half in the wall.

Kephale raises Dawnbreaker and blocks the lance that was thrown at him. He flies away before the Titan can get to him. Nikador throws all kinds of debris he can find.

Kephale wraps his wings around himself and flaps them to clear the dust. He almost misses the Titan that attacks him once again. Blocked. A drop of sweat runs down his forehead.

He doesn’t think before launching a counterattack. Dawnbreaker increases in size. Kephale hits the Titan.

Nikador falls to the ground. It roars again, this time of pain and anger. It’s not over yet. In an act of desperation, the Titan starts attacking anywhere he can. Destroying everything around him.

Kephale waits. He waits and watches the mad Titan succumb to despair.

It’s painful.

Finally, Nikador falls to the ground, motionless. His spear lays somewhere else.

Kephale approaches slowly. He hears the Titan breathing slowly. Loudly.

He places a hand on the Titan. A light blinds him. And in a second, a new seal is cast.

Phainon sighs.

His hand goes through the seal. He gives a few pets to Nikador’s head. He learned from Mydei that it’s relaxing. So maybe he can offer it some comfort. Comfort it had never once had to chance to get.

Phainon closes his eyes.

When he opens them, he finds himself in a familiar place.

That’s… Mydei’s room. From the previous cycle.

On the bed, a lone figure is sitting, watching the outside world from the windows. Mydeimos.

“I thought you’d never come.” Mydeimos groans. “Deliverer.”

Phainon sits next to him. He doesn’t get very close. Doesn’t consider himself worthy of that.

“I’m so sorry.” Phainon whispers. “I’m… so sorry.”

Mydeimos grabs his arm and brings him closer. “Quit apologizing like this, Deliverer. You’re making it even worse.”

They stay like this for a while. Phainon puts his head on Mydeimos’ shoulder. He doesn’t speak. There’s nothing to be said anyways. Mydeimos doesn’t ask him anything.

“I won’t be able to keep this going for much longer.” Mydeimos sighs. “I guess I was just desperate to see you again.”

“Really?” Phainon lifts his head, surprised.

“D- Phainon. You know I love you.”

“I know…” Phainon lies.

“I really do.” Mydeimos caught him. “Yeah. What you did was selfish.”

Phainon’s head drops. But Mydeimos is right. So right it hurts.

“But I don’t mind. I don’t anymore at least. I just need you to promise me you’ll reunite me with my other part.”

“Ah…”

“Not now.” Mydeimos stops him before he can speak. “When he dies, you can take him to me. And make sure he lives a happy life, because I want to get back good memories.” He groans.

“Yes!” Phainon yells. He raised his fist in the air, smiling. “I’ll handle that, don’t worry!”

Mydeimos chuckles. Phainon almost gets a heart attack. “I’m counting on you, Phainon. Don’t you dare disappoint me.”

“I won’t!”

“And I don’t want him to complain even once!”

“He won’t!”

“And you better not make him eat any of your cooking!”

“I wo- wait, why?!” Phainon cries, throwing himself on Mydeimos’ lap. “That’s so unfair! I’m not that bad at cooking!”

“You are.” Mydeimos glares at him. It’s supposed to be read as a threat.

“Meanie!”

Phainon laughs. He actually laughs. Laughs as if he has completely regained his emotions. He puts a hand on his chest. And sure enough, there is a heart beat. An intense heartbeat.

He stays on Mydeimos’ lap. The Kremnoan warrior doesn’t mind. He, as usual, pets Phainon’s hair, to comfort him.

Phainon knows it won’t last for long. Mydeimos can only remain sane for much time. He grips the man’s pants, not wanting to let go.

Mydeimos sighs. “Go now. Take care of my other half. It’s your duty now.”

“Mhm.” Phainon nods, still attached to Mydeimos.

“Go get him some Golden Honeycakes, will you?”

Phainon blinks.

And everything is gone.

—

Mydei wakes up without Phainon. It feels strange. He has lived with the man for a few months at this point, and always woke up facing him and receiving dozens of kisses and long sessions of cuddles.

He walks to the kitchen, alone, and starts preparing his breakfast.

And then he sees a cat clawing at his window. Mydei raises a brow. He lives on the second floor. He approaches the window and looks at the cat, confused. It’s a small, gray cat. He tries to shoo it away, but the cat jumps in as soon as he opens the window to tell it to go.

Mydei groans. And suddenly, the cat turns into a person.

“Urgh, this form is so annoying!”

A woman appears in his living room. A woman with cat ears and a tail.

“Finally, I was wondering when you’d wake up. You could rise earlier, yknow? Would help me quite a bit.”

“What?”

“Sorry. Haha, I didn’t even explain why I’m here. Well. Your boyfriend’s in danger.”

“Phainon?” Mydei exclaims.

Phainon is in danger? How could Kephale of all people possibly ever be in danger?

“Yep! Phainon indeed.”

“And you are?”

“Tch.” The woman clicked her tongue. “Why would that matte-”

“Zagreus?”

The woman paused. “H- huh? Hold- hold on, how could you know?!”

“You just seemed like Zagreus.” Mydei shrugged.

“Why would you assume Zagreus immediately?! I’m a Titan, why would a Titan be in your living room?!”

“Kephale the Worldbearer lives in my house and sleeps in my bed.”

“…fair.” Zagreus admits. “Yeah. Fair. Did he tell you about me? What, you’re going to use my full name after that?”

“Cipher?”

“YOU [dolos profanity]. Kephale, YOU [dolos profanity] OH WAIT UNTIL I FIND YOU!” She screams.

Mydei covers his ears.

“Anyways.” Cipher sighs. “Haha… Kephale… I guess I should’ve expected it. Haha…”

“What did you come here for?”

“Ooh, that. Well. Take my hand!”

Cipher extends her hand towards him. Mydei hesitates.

“Zagreus is a little weird, but she wants the best for everyone.”

It was what Phainon told him about her. Mydei trusts Phainon. He takes Cipher’s hand.

She smiles. A coin appears in her hand. She throws it in the air.

Mydei feels himself being pulled violently out of the window. It takes him some time to realize he’s on Cipher’s back, and that they’re running at supersonic speed throughout the city.

Cipher drops him off in front of Nikador’s temple. He almost throws up from whatever just happened. She smiles, disappears and reappears.

“Sorry! Left your window open. Hope you don’t mind me going back to your apartment. Nice decoration by the way.”

Mydei stares at her. She winks.

“He’s in there.” Cipher points at the temple. Hurry up before he dies of sad.”

She pushes him inside, then disappears once again.

Mydei stands there for a moment. Then realizes Phainon may be in danger.

He sprints in the temple.

And finds himself stuck behind a barrier. It looks exactly like the one back in Kephale’s temple. But Mydei can’t cross this one. He looks around, nobody is there. Good.

He yells out Phainon’s name. Hopes whatever he’s doing in there allows him to hear it.

Mydei realizes that what he’s doing is completely useless. He sighs deeply and sits against the barrier. Hoping Phainon makes it out fine.

He waits for about five minutes. Then hears footsteps from behind the barrier.

He jolts up.

Phainon is walking slowly. Head down. In his Titan form. He looks up at Mydei, confused.

“What… are you doing here.” He groans, running towards Mydei. “What are you doing HERE?!”

Mydei has never seen him this mad. “Cipher brought me here.”

Phainon stops in his tracks. He looks surprised.

“Cipher…” he laughs bitterly. “Looking out after me. That’s… nice.”

Mydei wasted no time and pulls Phainon towards him. He knows that the Titan likes hugs.

“You don’t need to tell me what happened.” Mydei tells him. “How about we just go back home?”

Phainon clings to him. He nods slowly after a moment.

“Mhm.”

Mydei notices Phainon crying.

Crying.

Mydei pats his back and lets him rest against him.

He guides Phainon towards the temple’s exit.

—

Phainon taps Mydei’s shoulder. They are currently sitting in a train on the way back home. It’s a bit late in the morning, and a week day, so not many people are around. He looks up at Mydei and tries to smile.

“Can we get Golden Honeycakes?”

Mydei blinks. “Where did that come from?”

Phainon nudges closer. “I just want us to eat Golden Honeycakes.”

“…alright?”

They get off soon after. Phainon walks a bit faster than usual, he notices that Mydei almost loses him a few times. He runs to the nearest bakery. Mydei buys two Golden Honeycakes.

They sit on a bench near the Main Street. Phainon sighs in relief when he tastes the sweet honey. Not too long ago, he found himself capable of tasting again. And he noticed he can taste more flavors when Mydei is around.

Love really is powerful. Aglaea was right about that. Phainon sort of regrets not listening to her in his past life.

They finish eating and go back home. Mydei decided that he wouldn’t go to work and instead take care of him. Phainon is thankful for that.

At lunch, he gets a special delicious meal from Mydei. It’s got everything he likes.

In the afternoon, they cuddle on the couch, watching whatever’s currently on TV.

At night, Mydei reads him a bedtime story. Phainon insists that he reads him some of the stupid legends humans have made up about him. Mydei tells him the story of when Nikador and Kephale fought for a single piece of gold.

Which is stupid, because Phainon would obviously let him get the gold. No fights needed. Actually, maybe Mydeimos would challenge him to keep the gold. Phainon would fight for Mydei to keep the gold. And they’d find themselves arguing about it for years.

Phainon laughs when Mydei finishes the story. Apparently, Nikador lost and was so mad about it he decided to steal the gold back from Kephale with the help of Zagreus.

“Cipher would never do that.” Phainon smiles. “She’d laugh at Nikador and tell him to get lost.”

“So, did you like that story?”

“It’s a bit stupid, but yeah.” Because you were the one telling it.

Phainon ends up asleep in Mydei’s arms.

“I love you.” Mydei whispers.

He doesn’t hear the answer.

Chapter Text

“The… bitch?”

“No?!” Mydei yells, infuriated. “BEACH. B-E-A-C-H.”

“Oh.” Phainon nods. “That makes more sense. What is it?”

Mydei feels like he wants to slam his head on the table. “You’ve never heard of the beach?”

“I’m supposed to?”

A pause.

“Yes?”

“Well, I haven’t.”

It all started a few hours ago. Mydei was relaxing on the couch, stuck in Phainon’s wings, when a thought crossed his mind. What if they went to the beach? Summer had just started, and it was already so hot he felt like he would turn into a puddle if it got a degree hotter.

So he asked Phainon.

Grave mistake.

Apparently, Phainon had no idea what a beach was (go figure why a god that created the world had never heard of beaches), and Mydei found himself explaining everything in painful details to the man child glued to him.

“So… we go in the water and cool off?”

“That’s the point, yes.”

“And it’s something you enjoy?”

“Yes.”

“So you like getting wet?”

“SHUT UP.” Mydei screams. “DO NOT SAY THAT EVER AGAIN.”

“Oh.” Phainon nods. He has no idea why Mydei had such an intense reaction to what he said, but he sets a reminder to himself to never say that again.

“So we’re going to the beach.” Mydei sighs.

“Okay!”

—

Mydei slaps on a pair of shorts and a tank top before leaving the bathroom. He immediately gets greeted by a clingy Phainon who wraps his arms and wings around him, leading him to the kitchen (or so he thinks, he can’t see a thing). Phainon drops him off in front of the stove, a few eggs waiting on top of it.

Mydei pushes him away. Phainon’s head drops and he goes to sit at the table. Mydei grabs the eggs and takes out a pan. Surely he can’t mess this up right?

Wrong. As soon as Phainon notices the oil cracking, he jumps out of his seat, grabs the nearest glass of water and throws it at the pan.

“PHAINON WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“I saved you!” Phainon smiles. This stupid smile.

Mydei grabs two slices of bread and slaps them on Phainon’s face. “WHAT ARE YOU?!”

“A sandwich?”

“An idiot sandwich. That’s what you are.”

“Oh.” Phainon looks at him with his disgusting puppy eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Mydei sighs. He looks at the eggs. Looks back at Phainon. Then releases the man, grabs the pan and dumps its contents into a plate. He then sits Phainon at the table and serves him said plate.

“You saved me? Now save yourself.”

Phainon nods and starts eating.

The second after, he runs to the bathroom.

What a wild start of the day.

Luckily, Mydei anticipates Phainon’s weird clothing taste and follows him to the bathroom.

“You are NOT putting that yellow shirt on!”

“Leave me alone!” Phainon hisses. “It’s my favorite!”

“Well it’s not mine, and it’s ugly!”

“How dare you!” He sobs.

Mydei facepalms. He grabs the nearest black short sleeved shirt and throws it at the pathetic man rolling around in his bathroom.

“Why is he so attached to this shirt…?”

Mydei shakes his head. He then leaves the bathroom and starts packing up.

Some swimsuits, swimming goggles for Phainon if he wants to look underwater (although he had a feeling that one of Phainon’s powers included being able to see underwater… he was the god that created this world after all.) and a beach umbrella he had bought years ago and never used.

He didn’t really have a reason to use it.

He looks back at the bathroom. He does now. Mydei smiles and goes to the living room to wait.

Phainon comes back out sulking, wearing appropriate clothes, at least. He seems sad about having been denied the ugly yellow shirt. Mydei sighs, pats him on the back and guides him to the door.

Phainon sleeps on Mydei during the train ride. But it’s not just putting his head on his shoulder this time. Instead, Phainon lays his entire body on Mydei’s, finds himself in the most awful, disgusting and uncomfortable position and sleepsthrough the whole ride. Unbelievable, Mydei thinks. And the other passengers are giving him looks. Probably thinking “what is this guy doing?” and Mydei could not blame them.

He spends two hours in this position.

Mydei tries waking him up at first. Tells him that he will wake up and feel pain. But nothing. Phainon’s sleep is the immovable object, and Mydei’s voice is certainly not an unstoppable force.

He gives up after fifteen minutes of shaking Phainon. Falls back in his seat and decides to read. He takes out the book he’s started to read a few days ago, “Pretty Please, Kitsune Guuji?”, a story about an immortal god and a kitsune, greatly appreciated by the public. Mydei decided to give it a try, because why not? So far, he likes the story. The writing style is simple, but understandable, making the story easy to follow and the characters easy to relate to. He understands the book’s popularity, at least.

Not even two hours after their departure, the train stops. Mydei looks at Phainon, groans, and grabs the bag. Then grabs Phainon. He carries him outside, earning an other wave of weird stares from everyone around him.

He feels Phainon moving around in his sleep and, once Mydei is sure he’s awake, drops him on the ground.

“Ow!” Phainon yells out in pain. “What was that for?”

“I’m tired of carrying you. Carry yourself, please.”

Phainon pouts, huffs, groans, goes through the five stages of grief all in one second and starts walking with Mydei.

Soon, they arrive in front of the beach. Mydei looks back at Phainon and smiles as he sees the man’s amazed expression.

“So you’ve really never seen it, huh?”

“Why would I lie to you?” Phainon coughs. “It’s pretty. I like it.”

Mydei takes his hand and leads him to the sand. He watches as Phainon’s face goes from surprise to confusion to discomfort to relaxation.

Phainon relaxes so much he almost falls asleep while walking. Mydei elbows him. He wakes up immediately, yelping in pain.

“What in Kephale’s name?” Phainon groans.

“…huh.”

Mydei takes him to one of the few empty spots on the beach. He takes out the beach umbrella and sets up their camp while Phainon watches, visibly intrigued. Mydei doesn’t take time to explain what he’s doing, he probably doesn’t need to. Once he’s done setting up, he pulls Phainon under the umbrella. The man falls on his back and lays there, his legs exposed to the sun.

“Say, you don’t get sunburns right?” Mydei asks.

“What’s a sun… burn?”

“Nevermind. Disregard what I just said.”

Phainon tilts his head but doesn’t push. “Okay.”

Mydei starts taking off his shirt.

“De, we’re in public!” Phainon jumps at him, a poor attempt at covering him with his arms. “Don’t do that! People will stare at you!”

“Phainon we’re at the beach. Everyone does that. It’s normal.”

“I don’t care about the bitch!” Phainon yells, and accidentally attracts some attention.

“I told you it’s beach, Phainon.” Mydei groans at him, putting a hand over his mouth. “And it’s normal for Nikador’s sake.”

Phainon wants to complain. Mydei can see it.

“So it’s normal for people to stare at you?” Phainon tries to say. It comes out as a weird mess of words and muffled noises because of Mydei’s hand.

Mydei sighs. “Don’t say anything. No complaints. No compliments. Nothing.” He stares at Phainon.

As soon as he takes his hand off, Phainon jumps at him again and slams his head on Mydei’s chest. Then lets out a low growl.

“Seriously?”

“Grrr…”

“…”

Anyways, Mydei thinks. He pushes Phainon’s head enough so that he can take off his shirt despite the other man’s attempts at stopping him from doing so. He throws his shirt aside and falls back, unable to resist Phainon’s weight anymore.

“…why are you like this.” He whispers.

Phainon answers by nearly breaking Mydei’s ribs with how tightly he was holding him.

“I’m going to swim soon. Please let go.”

“Nuh uh.”

“You’re going to break my bones.”

Phainon immediately let go. He looked down like a kicked puppy. Mydei was convinced that if the man had a tail, it would be laying flat on the floor.

“For the last time, this is normal. Phainon, please.”

The aforementioned tail would be flickering in anger.

“You’re attractive.” Phainon declares. “People will be looking.”

“Thank you?”

Wait.

Phainon seems extremely concerned about people looking at Mydei. Mydei is (according to everyone he knew), very attractive.

Is Phainon jealous… of other people getting to look at him?

“You can’t be serious.” Mydei facepalms.

“I’m very serious.” Phainon pouts. “What if someone tries to steal you?”

“Nobody will steal me.” Mydei tells him. “You do know I’d never leave you, right?”

“Mhm.” Phainon nods. He seems to believe it. “Okay then… we can get wet together.”

“PHAINON.”

—

“Hey!”

Mydei jumps on Phainon.

“This is what you get for making me buy hundreds of Honeycakes!”

“But you like them??” Phainon yells. “Ack!” He trips and disappears under the water.

Mydei pulls him out. “What would you do without me, huh.”

“Bad. I’d do bad.” Phainon shakes his head like a dog trying to dry. He lets Mydei hold him above the water.

“Can you swim?”

“I don’t think so. Can you?”

“I’ve been taught to back then. Do you want to learn?”

Suddenly, Phainon wiggles out of Mydei’s arms and falls disgraciously in the water. He stays in for so long Mydei has to pull him back out again.

“What the hell??”

“Mydei!” Phainon smiles. “I don’t think I need to learn. I can breathe!”

“…” Mydei stares at him. “Did you really have to make it seem like you were drowning?”

“Probably not.”

A sigh.

—

“Phainon, come here.” Mydei calls out.

After spending some time in the water, getting jumpscared by Phainon randomly emerging from the water holding various marine species (which Mydei got very mad about, Phainon unfortunately had to put the animals and plants back where he found them), he considered teaching him the joys of building sandcastles.

What he did not anticipate was Phainon burying himself in the sand. His head poking out.

“What… have you done.”

“Mydei!” The sand moves a little. “I’m fusing with Georios!”

“I forbid you from doing that. Now get up.”

“Mydei, decorate me!” Phainon squeaks.

“What?”

“You said you wanted to make a castle right? You can make it on me!”

Which was somehow not the stupidest thing Mydei has heard coming from him. Go figure why.

“Well… if that’s what you want…”

He takes his bucket of wet sand and starts piling it up on top of Phainon’s body.

“It feels warm.” Phainon says, looking like he’s melting into the sand. “Yellow is a pretty color. Look, it matches with my hair!”

Hold on.

“Phainon what the hell?!”

Mydei realizes that the black thing poking out from the sand close to Phainon’s head isn’t a random piece of algae but the tip of his wing.

“Don’t worry!” Phainon smiles. “I’m sure people won’t notice a thing! They don’t even notice my head. Someone stepped on it not too long ago!”

“That’s not something to be proud of.” Mydei huffs.

“They apologized after that. I told them it was fine.”

Mydei finished his sandcastle without a word.

—

“What’s ice cream?” Phainon tilts his head.

“Cold dessert.” Mydei explains. “It’s sweet. I think you’d like it.”

“Oh!”

“Do you want one?”

“Sure. Do we have to make it?”

Mydei looks at the ice cream stand ten meters away. Looks back at Phainon.

“I’ll go buy some. You wait here and don’t do anything stupid.”

He gets up.

Looks back at Phainon who was trying to eat sand.

He sighs and throws his hat at the man.

He returns a few moments later with two strawberry ice creams. Unfortunately, they had no pomegranate ones… Mydei told himself he would buy some when they went home.

He hands one of the ice creams to Phainon. The Titan takes it and almost drops it on the ground.

“It’s cold!” He complains, way too loudly.

“Yes?”

“Warn me next time! I almost had a heart attack!”

“There’s ‘ice’ in ice cream, genius.”

Phainon huffs. “How do I eat this?”

Mydei looks at him. Then licks his ice cream. Repeats the process. Phainon watches, intrigued. Probably a little confused, but he understands what Mydei was trying to say. He cautiously opens his mouth and lets his tongue come in contact with the ice cream.

“EEK!”

Mydei almost spits out what was in his mouth. “Excuse me?”

“I think… I think my brain is going to freeze…” Phainon whispers. “Is this what I get… for teasing Hy- Phagousa…?”

“Phainon?!” Mydei yells as he notices the Titan who was about to pass out. “You okay?”

“Mydeimos… I’m sorry… please take care of the kids when I’m gone…”

“The what.”

Phainon dramatically falls to the ground.

It would look convincing if his left arm wasn’t up in the air holding the ice cream so it doesn’t fall.

—

“So.” Mydei says, putting the beach accessories back in their usual spot.

They had gone back home after a very long train ride. Long for Mydei. Phainon, once again, slept through it.

“Did you have fun?”

Phainon pouts. “You’re seriously going to ask that?”

“…” Mydei stares at him. The kind of stare that meant ‘you haven’t answered my question, I’m kicking you out if you don’t’.

“I’m sorry.” The message had been delivered. “Well… it’s the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

Mydei looks away. Hides the small face that formed on his face.

“I’m glad.”

He’s suddenly assaulted by two giant wings that wrap around him and pull him backwards.

“You promised me cuddles.”

That sounds like a threat. Mydei feels his heartbeat rising.

“Surely you won’t break your promises, right?”

Ah, well. Now he can say goodbye to his plans for the night.